Python for shell scripting

Shell scripting is the ultimate experience of unorthodoxy: Everything that one has learned with “proper” programming languages is done differently (well, unless you are into Perl, you naughty little hacker). If you are looking for pain relief, the following article can help:

“Python for Bash scripters: A well-kept secret”

Generate emails with mailto URLs and Python

Scenario: You want to send several emails where only small things change. This sounds like a job for a mail merge program. But if you use mailto: links and Python, you get a nice shell-based solution. This combination also has the advantage of opening each generated email in your email client so that you can take one last look before sending it.



mailto: URL syntax



"mailto:" recipients ( "?" key "=" value ("&" key "=" value)* )?

• recipients: comma-separated email addresses (no spaces; Outlook needs semicolons instead of commas)


• value: should be URL-encoded (e.g. space becomes %20)


• key: subject, cc, bcc, body


• Example: mailto:joe@example.com,jane@example.com?subject=hello&body=How%20are%20you%3F

Open mailto URLs with Python

    #!/usr/bin/python

    from urllib import quote
    import webbrowser

    def mailto(recipients, subject, body):
        "recipients: string with comma-separated emails (no spaces!)"
        webbrowser.open("mailto:%s?subject=%s&body=%s" %
            (recipients, quote(subject), quote(body)))

    body_template = """Hello %(name)s!

    How are you?"""

    def gen(email, name):
        mailto(email, "Hi!", body_template % locals())

    gen("joe@example.com", "Joe")
    gen("jane@example.com,jill@example.com", "Jane and Jill")

Related:

• A simple way of sending emails in Java: mailto links

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